JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Shands Jacksonville Medical Center will officially close its kidney transplant program effective Jan. 11.
The permanent closure follows a decision last January to voluntarily inactivate the program due to very low surgical volumes over the last several years that no longer allowed it to be viable, hospital officials said in a news release.
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Shands will close the program according to guidelines established by United Network for Organ Sharing, or UNOS.
Since the inactivation, Shands has been working with patients who were on its waiting list to help place them on waiting lists at other facilities, according to the news release. Shands officials said they will continue to work closely with those patients and UNOS to make those transitions as seamless as possible.
Patients who have received transplants at Shands, as well as living donors, may continue to be cared for by physicians and medical staff at the facility.